


You're Perfect in My Dreams

by Hashtagmavin



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Dreams, M/M, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-06
Updated: 2013-10-06
Packaged: 2017-12-28 13:51:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/992715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hashtagmavin/pseuds/Hashtagmavin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Throughout Gavin’s entire life he’s been haunted with nightmares. They get more and more frequent as his life continues, but do they mean something?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Hashtagmavin.tumblr.com on August 18 2013  
> Prompt: "I just thought of mavin where Gavin has terrible nightmares as a kid (like waking up screaming and crying) about a dark figure. as he grows up the dark figure lightens up to show the person (who looks like Michael) and then after a few weeks when the dark figure has all his colors, Gavin meets Michael for the first time. fluffy end though!"

The dreams didn’t happen very often when he was younger.

They were so rare that usually they would only happen once or twice every year.

But when you’re just a five year old boy, it’s still terrifying.

Some nights Gavin would lie in his bed, his covers pulled up to his chin, and his eyes squeezed shut. Just thinking about the dream would be enough to scare the poor boy into a sleepless night.

He’d always check under his bed and in his closet a hundred times, and then ask his mom if she could stay with him until he fell asleep. She always felt bad for her son, it was obvious these dreams were affecting him in ways one wouldn’t think possible for such a young child.

But he hadn’t had the dream in a long time, so he was scared. It could happen any day now. He was too tired to stay awake all night again, he’s done that too many times, and it usually gives him a headache by the time the sun comes up.

He doesn’t know when the dreams started, or when the first one was. All he knows is that they’re terrifying, and that he hates them.

After internally arguing with himself on the topic of if it’s safe for him to sleep, he finally relaxes his eyelids, and clutches his teddy bear closer to his side.

He falls into a deep sleep, and the dream starts once again.

_It always starts the same. He can’t see anything. It’s just the inside of his mind, no colors, no objects, no background, and no foreground._

_But then he sees it._

_The dark figure that just appears in front of him. It fades into his vision and doesn’t move._

_It’s like a mist that never dissolves into the air, and the only thing it does is just stand there._

_It doesn’t move, it doesn’t talk, and it doesn’t fade away._

_And it’s terrifying._

_Gavin screams, kicks his feet around, and cries as loud as he can. But it’s like he can’t move in the dream, and the figure doesn’t pay any attention to it anyways._

_His fighting doesn’t cause the monster to go away, or come any closer. So it’s a useless battle, but it’s the only thing he knows how to do._

_So he continues to panic until he feels himself being shaken._

_And finally the monster disappears, just seconds before Gavin’s eyes fly open._

He’s in his own room. On his bed, with his parent’s worried eyes staring down into his.

No more dream, no more monster, no more shadowy figure.

He continues to cry and buries his face into his mother’s shirt. His parents continue to speak soothing words to him, and they let him sleep in their room tonight. But he’s still hysterical, and it takes numerous soft spoken stories and whispered lullabies to finally coax him back to sleep.

The dream is over.

But it always comes back.

*

You’re not supposed to cry over nightmares as a ten year old boy.

Gavin knows this well enough, and doesn’t want to be teased by his friends for still sobbing like a baby over dreams. They’d call him names and make fun of him even more than they already do.

But he just can’t help it.

The dreams are getting more frequent. Maybe five or six times a year, he’ll wake up in that cold sweat, his throat raw from screaming, and tears streamed down his face.

His mother rushes in as fast as she can to see if he’s okay, but she’s only met with the sight of Gavin, wiping away his tears and trying to regain his breathing as his eyes adjust to the darkness of his bedroom.

"Are you okay, sweetie?" she questions, softly, while sitting down on the bed next to him.

"Yeah, I’m fine."

"Was it the dream again?"

"Yeah." he whispers it so softly that she can barely hear it.

"Are you going to be okay?"

"Yes, mum. I just want to go back to bed."

He doesn’t want to sound like such a baby, and he doesn’t need comforting anymore like he did was he was younger. He’s a big boy now, and he doesn’t need his mummy to take care of him and sing him to sleep.

"If you’re sure, sweetie." she murmurs the words softly, there’s an underlying of concern and pity laced with them. His mom gives him a quick kiss on the forehead, and then leaves the room once again.

Gavin’s just relieved that it’s over.

But it’s never over.

*

The dreams get more and more incessant as he grows older. As a teenager they begin happening around once or twice every three or four months. He doesn’t understand why it’s getting worse.

He’ll still wake up screaming and terrified, gripping his bed sheets in fright, and drenched in his own sweat. But sometimes he doesn’t.

Because slowly, over the course of time, the shadowy figure has started to change.

It’s like in every dream it’s not so dark anymore. The black mist that makes it up, is changing into a more solid form. It’s even getting lighter, as if it’s going up on a grey scale.

When he was younger, he was scared of the fact that it looked so horrifying and he didn’t know if it was going to inflict pain upon him. But now the dreams scare him for a whole other reason. It’s because he doesn’t know what it is, and why he’s having these dreams. Why he sometimes wakes up with a pounding headache afterwards.

This entire thing is just one big eerie mystery to him, and he considers writing it down, because it could probably be a very successful creepypasta.

*

When Gavin moved to America to be a part of the internet company Rooster Teeth, he knew he was going to be living with his friend Geoff, who also worked there.

Geoff lived with his wife Griffon, and they had a newborn baby girl. He completely forgot about how his dreams, which seemed to be getting more frequent, were going to effect his ‘roommates.’

The Ramsey family were insanely nice to him, and they treated him like he was a part of them. They joked around, ate meals together, and he’d even babysit for them when they wanted to go out on a date night.

Plus, he was also working at his dream job. He was seriously working for the creators of Red vs. Blue, his favorite machinima series on the internet. It’s amazing to be friends with all of the people he’s admired across the world, and to be living in one of their homes especially.

He’s been living with the Ramsey’s for about a week when he’s hit with the dream again.

_The emptiness that happens before the figure appears is always creepy too. It’s like there’s just nothing. Not even colors or his own thoughts, he’s just simply there._

_Not able to move or talk, and it’s not until the thing appears that he’s actually able to focus his eyes, and feel his own body once again. Like he’s in some kind of weird purgatory type place, where it’s only his consciousness or soul._

_But he’s always aware. As soon as it starts, he always knows that it’s_ the dream. _Sometimes it causes him to panic, the inevitable knowledge that the figure is going to be in front of him soon, but other times he just accepts it._

_This was not one of those times._

_There’s nothing at first, and then the figure appears before him. Just standing there like it always does._

_It’s eyes are watching him._

_He screams as loud as he can, almost shocking himself at how loud it sounds to his own ears. It vibrates through his eardrums and he can feel it painfully in his throat._

_Gavin’s thought that by this point, he’s been through the dream long enough to know what happens, and to not freak out or panic like this anymore._

_But he just can’t help it. Because this time it’s different._

_Instead of just being a shadowy dark figure, that gradually gets lighter during every dream. This time it has_ eyes _._

_Two white slits in the middle of its face, that just glow like a torch. The only light in the entire figure. Even though it doesn’t have any pupils, Gavin knows it’s staring at him, not breaking eye contact._

_The fact that it has human qualities is so ground breakingly horrifying that it makes him want to wake up from the dream immediately just to get away. But they never end on his terms, only when the monster finally decides to leave._

_If the figure has had eyes all of this time, and he’s only just seeing them now, then what else is he missing? Does it have ears? A nose? A mouth?_

_The thought of it having a large mouth filled with sharp pointy teeth runs through his mind, and it only succeeds in making him shriek louder._

_"Gavin! Holy fuck! Wake the hell up!" he hears somebody yell, and he feels his body being shaken even though there’s nobody around. The monster isn’t close enough to shake him, and it doesn’t even appear to have arms. It’s never touched him before._

_The monster closes it’s eyes, just seconds before Gavin own open wide._

He awakes with a loud gasp, Geoff towers over him, sitting on his bed with his hands on Gavin’s shoulders.

The sound of the baby crying can be heard from out in the hallway, and it makes him feel incredibly guilty. He woke her up with his stupid nightmares, and who knows how long it will take her to get back to sleep.

"Are you okay?" Geoff asks, concern and worry evident in his voice and eyes.

Gavin’s still breathing heavily, he can feel his heart beating loudly in his chest, and his eyes are attempting to focus on Geoff’s face in front of him.

"Y-Yeah… Just a nightmare." he murmurs. He’s thankful for the fact that Geoff didn’t turn on his light, because that means the older man can’t see how red his face is.

"We thought somebody broke in and you were getting brutally murdered or something! I’ve never heard somebody scream so loud in all my life. It sounded like you were in pain." Geoff exclaims, his hands still holding his shoulders in place.

"Sorry… It uh… It happens a lot." his throat is sore from all the shrieking, and his voice sounds all croaky and weird now.

“ _That_  happens a lot?” he questions, an eyebrow arched.

"Yeah, sort of like a reoccurring nightmare, I guess?" Gavin reaches up to rub his face, trying to wipe away the sleepiness.

He’s thankful to Geoff for waking him though. That dream lasted longer than the others, and he’s not sure why. But maybe it was because this one was so much more terrifying, and it just  _seemed_ like it was longer.

"You mean this has happened before?"

"As long as I can remember. It used to just be once every year or so, but I get them more often as time goes on." He’s not sure if that explanation makes sense, it’s still trying to regain his breathing and wake up fully.

Geoff snickers, and Gavin feels a rush of relief run through him. He’s not mad. Thank God. His parents are used to being woken up by his screaming in the middle of the night, but the Ramsey’s weren’t even aware that he had those night terrors. He feels like such an idiot for not mentioning it to them.

"Are you sure you shouldn’t be on some kind of medication for it?" he finally lets go of his shoulders, and sits back a little, chuckling at Gavin’s expense.

"I’m not crazy, Geoff." Gavin argues, but he knows it’s all in good fun. He and Geoff get along like brothers, or even like a father and son.

The figure of Griffon, rocking her daughter in her arms, appears in the doorway.

The feeling of guilt immediately comes back, and he’s only just noticed that the baby’s cries have finally quieted a little. His eyes widen at the thought of Griffon having to spend the rest of the night trying to get the baby back to sleep.

"Griffon, I am so sorry! I didn’t mean to wake her up, I just-" she cuts him off with a warm smile.

"Don’t worry about it, she’s starting to calm down now. Are you okay? You were screaming like you were dying."

"He’s fine, he’s just had a little nightmare and pissed his pants like a baby." Geoff laughs, and ruffles his hair affectionately.

"Shut up! I did not!" Gavin glares, shoving the older man away.

Griffon doesn’t laugh though, and she gapes in shock. “You have nightmares, Gavin?”

He rolls his eyes and nods a little. Why couldn’t he just have normal dreams that don’t alert the entire world?

"Here, take her and put her to bed." Griffon walks into the room and hands off the baby to Geoff, who grumbles with annoyance. He obviously wanted to stay and pick fun at Gavin a little more.

Usually after he has the dream, he doesn’t fall back asleep. It used to take his mothers soothing voice or songs to finally lull him back into a sweet dreamless sleep. But she hasn’t done that in years, and usually he just stays up the rest of the night tossing and turning. He wouldn’t want to bother his mother for such childish fears.

And now he lives miles upon miles away from her. Bothering her isn’t even an option anymore.

"Lie back down," Griffon says, and once he obeys, she snuggles up next to him.

He laughs at how close she is, and can’t deny that it reminds him of cuddling up into his mother’s arms again.

"Don’t laugh." she states, and it causes him to stop immediately. "Now close your eyes, and go to sleep."

He does as he’s told, not questioning her weird requests. Griffon’s like an adoptive mother to him, and he doesn’t mind hugging her and giving her a friendly peck on the cheek every once in a while.

Letting her sing him to sleep isn’t going to over cross any boundaries and tread into the uncomfortable and weird territory. It’s actually pretty difficult to reach that point with the Ramsey’s.

She whispers a soft and soothing song into the air of the dark room. He noticeably relaxes at the sound of it, and is able to calm down. Allowing himself to listen to nothing other than the faint words leaving her lips into a melodic tune that’s entrancing him back to sleep.

It echoes off the walls, and for the first time in years, he finally falls back asleep after having a nightmare.

*

He figures he’s safe from it for a while now, but it happens again less than a month later. It’s scary how they seem to be getting closer to one another, and he wishes that they were more spanned out so that he wouldn’t have to deal with them so often.

Soon the dream happens to him once every month. And he feels so guilty because sometimes he still screams during them, and it causes the baby to wake up. So he changes rooms, and now has his own little apartment type place within the Ramsey property. So he’s not too far away, but not so close that they can hear his nightmares.

The figure changes even more as time continues on. It’s eventually loses it’s dark coloring so much that it’s almost white. The eyes are still brighter, and they seem to glow in a terrifying way. But he’s used to those now.

But just because he’s able to freak out as much as he can in the privacy and comfort of his own little room, that doesn’t mean he welcomes it. He hates being awoken by the dream, and not being able to fall back asleep. It needs to end, and he refuses to be scared of it. So as the dreams come and go, he notices that he handles them a little better each time. Not much, but at least it’s progress.

After a year of living with the Ramsey’s and dealing with the dreams, Gavin’s not so terrified of it anymore, he’s more curious. This dream has haunted him his entire life, and he’s spent the majority of that time being scared of it.

But maybe it’s time to not be scared anymore.

He never knows when the dream is coming, but the next time that it does, he’s ready for it.

_It starts out like all of the others._

_The monster thing appears, and he notices that it’s starting to look less and less like a monster each time._

_Instead of shrieking and fighting to get away from it, he simply stays there. Observing the creature right back._

_He can make out the faint shape of limbs, as though it’s got legs and arms._

_He’s hard to tell how much the color has changed from dark to white, because it’s only changes slightly each time. It’s hardly noticeable from one dream to another._

_But this time he notices color wrapped around it’s middle. He’s not able to distinguish which colors  but he still sees them. Like it’s wearing clothes, and it looks like the very blurry outline of a human._

_He didn’t think he’d be able to talk in the dream, but when he opens his mouth, his thoughts spill out. “Who are you?” Gavin questions, his own voice sounds groggy and muffled._

_The figure doesn’t respond, and it’s head cocks to the side._

_He can’t be sure, but he thinks that the creature is_ amused _. As though he finds Gavin funny or interesting._

_It’s enough to annoy him though, and he furrows his eyebrows in discontent. “Are you laughing at me?” Gavin questions it._

_There’s no proof that the thing is actually laughing at him, but once he asked, it moves it’s head back up straight._

_Gavin smirks, “I’m not scared of you anymore, you know.”_

_He feels superior to the thing now. He’s always thought that it got joy out of scaring him, or making him scream and cry. Forcing himself to put on a brave face, makes him feel actually brave._

_But when the creature doesn’t respond, it makes him hesitant to feel so cocky about it._

_The monster makes an odd noise and then begins to disappear. Fading away, which represents the end of the dream._

_But before it’s completely gone, he hears the soft whisper of somebody saying, “Wake up, Gavin.”_

His eyes are open, and he sits up in bed immediately.

He expects to see Geoff there, telling him to wake up and say that he’s had a particularly loud bad dream this time. But he’s not there.

Nobody’s in his room with him.

*

He doesn’t confide in Geoff or Griffon when the dreams are happening every week. There’s no need to worry them.

Geoff started out making fun of his nightmares, but after a stern talking to from Griffon, and the first hand experience of seeing Gavin go through them one too many times, he knows how serious they are.

But they aren’t scary anymore. He can’t remember the last time he’s woken up screaming. He’s laid down the law with this figure monster shadow  _thing_ , and he’s not going to let it bully his dreams anymore.

So whenever he has the dreams, he just takes note of how it looks more and more like a human being. Not giving it the satisfaction of scaring him.

Because it really does look like a person now.

 _As soon as he falls asleep it starts up again, and he has to resist the urge to roll his eyes. He’d only_ just  _had the dream five days ago!_

_But he doesn’t get annoyed or curse, because the figure is in front of him. Usually it appears a little while later, but this time it was already there._

_It’s like the dreams are changing more and more each time, because that’s not the only thing that’s different._

_He’d been able to tell for a while now that the figure is a person. It has distinguishable arms, legs, a head, torso, clothes, etc. But this time it even has a face._

_Gavin can make out a mouth, nose, and it’s eyes are more defined. They aren’t just glowing white ovals anymore. He’s even able to recognize the colors now, and they’re a deep brown._

_He can see the color of reddish brown on the top of it’s head, but it’s still too hazy to tell if the black part on top is a hat or just darker hair._

_He sees it’s mouth open, and the words spill out. “Hey, Gavin.” it says._

_Gavin’s eyes widen and his mouth drops open a little at the verbal communication._

His eyes opening bigger in his dream is enough to open them in real life, and he almost curses himself for somehow ending the dream earlier.

It’s probably the first time in his life that he’s wanted it to continue so that he can find out more.

The thing just  _spoke_ to him. It knew his name!

What else does it know? Is it supposed to be able to talk?

Gavin grips his head in frustration and annoyance.

He’s been dealing with these nightmares and dreams his entire life, and he’s accepted that there’s something more to them. It’s not just an odd figure that his subconscious has created. Maybe there’s something more to this.

He sighs and closes his eyes again, but he knows he’s not going to be able to fall back asleep.

*

As soon as Gavin walks into the Achievement Hunter office and sits down, he already wants to leave. He wouldn’t be opposed to laying his head down on the top of his damaged desk and taking a very uncomfortable nap.

When he got out of bed this morning, with only three hours of sleep, he refused to look in the mirror. He knew he’d have dark circles under his eyes, and his hair would be a mess. Not exactly picture perfect or work ready, but he didn’t really have much of a choice.

Of course, he had the dream again last night. And of course, he couldn’t fall back asleep afterwards. These dumb dreams were starting to affect his day to day life. It’s hard to function with such a low amount of sleep.

"Whoa, Gav." Ray says, with his eyebrows raised in amusement, "You look like shit."

They’re the only two in the room this morning. The other guys are busy with other work related stuff. Apparently they’re getting a new guy in the AH office, and there’s a lot of preparation before he arrives.

"Cheers, Ray." Gavin mutters sarcastically. He just wants to do his work today, and then get out of here so that he can go home, and go to  _bed_.

Any hopes that Ray will just leave him alone is quickly destroyed.

"Did you even get any sleep last night?"

"Nope."

"Still having nightmares?" Ray continues to question.

Gavin sighs and leans back in his chair before finally giving into it and turning towards his friend. “Yeah.”

He doesn’t mean to sound so cranky, but it’s hard to function without any sleep. Due to the ever so constant string of dreams, he’s been getting less and less sleep every week.

"Have you thought about taking sleeping pills or something? Maybe that could work." It’s not very often that Ray is helpful and considerate. Usually he’s just sarcastic and playfully obnoxious.

Gavin can’t justify taking medication for it. He’s never even taken a pill before in his life, and due to his horrible gag reflex, he knows that it would be torture to have to take one every night.

Besides, it could affect the dreams in a bad way. They’ve only just started to get tolerable, and he doesn’t need a reason for them to become horror filled again.

"Nah, it probably wouldn’t end well." he says to Ray with a shrug.

"What are those dreams even about? They can’t be  _that_ bad.”

He’s never really described them to anybody before. They’d probably think he was crazy or a complete lunatic. But Ray is one of his closest friends, and even though he’ll probably make fun of him for it later… It’ll be nice to talk about it and get it off his chest.

"Well, they used to be horrible, and they used to only happen once every year or so." he explains quietly.

They’re in the Achievement Hunter office alone, so nobody else can over hear. But he doesn’t want to take any chances.

"How often do they happen now?"

"Probably three or four times a week."

"What happens in them?"

"When I was younger it was just this dark shadowy thing that would just stand in front of me… And I know that sounds pretty dumb and stupid, but it was terrifying." he shrugs, trying not to let Ray know how much it affected him.

But Ray doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t poke fun or call him a wuss, he just sits there with curious eyes, waiting for him to continue.

"But now they’re different. It’s turned into a more human type thing." he feels his eyebrows furrow and he looks at the wall behind Ray as he tries to explain it. "It has a body, and a face, and clothes. But it’s still kind of blurry and out of focus."

He isn’t exactly sure how to explain it, or if he’s doing a good job so far. But Ray’s nodding slightly as though he understands.

"Think it means anything?" Ray asks, his tone neither mocking nor serious.

"What do you mean?"

"Don’t people usually say that you’re dreams show you things that you don’t know you know." after he says it he makes a confused face, "Did that make any sense."

Gavin smirks, “Not really, but I get the general idea of what you’re saying.”

Ray shrugs, and then turns back to his work.

Gavin just sits there for a while, contemplating Ray’s words and wondering if they could be true. But he eventually shakes the idea out of his head and returns to his own work as well.

It’s just a dumb dream. It doesn’t mean anything.

*

_It’s not until the dreams start happening every night that the person is completely in focus._

_It’s like a video taken with a very high definition camera._

_He spends the first few minutes (Maybe. It’s hard to tell how much time is actually passing in a dream.) just studying the man. Because he can finally see that it’s a man standing in front of him._

_He has on a simple pair of jeans, shoes, a beanie, and a t-shirt. Just a normal everyday outfit, nothing out of the ordinary._

_Gavin can count every freckle that’s scattered across his cheeks, every curly reddish brown hair on his head, and the glasses that are perched on his nose._

_He even has a few tattoo’s on his arms. Once he notices that, Gavin comes to the conclusion that he_ must  _be something that his mind has made up. Because he’s honestly composed of everything that Gavin finds attractive in a person._

_He’s attractive._

_And as soon as the thought passes through Gavin’s mind, the man smiles. Can he read minds? Or maybe there’s no difference between thinking and speaking within his own head._

_"Hey, Gavin." the man says, still smiling at him. He recognizes the American accent, which surprises him. If this man came from his subconscious wouldn’t he have a British accent?_

_He forces himself not to be surprised at the words. He doesn’t want to wake himself up again._

_Gavin tries talking, but he’s still not sure if his vocal chords work here, “You…” as soon as the words leave his lips and reach his own ears, he knows that the man should be able to hear him. “You can talk.”_

_It probably sounds stupid, and he wants to smack his own forehead for such an obvious statement._

_The guy seems amused at his annoyance, and speaks again. “Yeah.”_

_Gavin takes note of how casual he sounds. Not “yes” or “of course”, just a simple “yeah.” Like he hasn’t been harassing somebody else’s dreams for years._

_It takes a few moments, but he finally musters up the courage to continue talking. “What’s your name?”_

_"I’m Michael."_

_Not a name you’d expect a creepy shadowy figure to own, but Gavin’s not about to complain. He’ll take any information he can get._

_"Why are you here?"_

_"What do you mean?"_

_Gavin suppresses the urge to roll his eyes, “Why are you in my dreams all the time?”_

_Michael smirks, as though he’s getting joy out of annoying him. He doesn’t speak for the longest time. Gavin just continues to watch him, and it feels like they’re in a staring contest._

_Then he starts to become more transparent, as though he’s drifting out of existence  Gavin makes a noise of confusion and shock, which sounds sort of like “Oi!” but he can’t really be sure. He’s too busy focusing on Michael._

_This is how the dreams used to end. But now that they were actually having a conversation, he doesn’t want it to happen anymore. He wants to hear the answer to his question._

_"Wake up, Gavin." Michael whispers before he’s gone completely._

Before Gavin can respond he’s awake. His eyes flicker open instantly as though on their own accord.

It has a name. It has a voice.

He spends the rest of the night thinking about the man. His physical appearance, his words, his smiles, and his questions that went unanswered.

*

It’s only for a few more dreams that Gavin continues to just stand there, sort of glaring at the man in front of him.

Even though he hates these dreams, he still takes the time to admire Michael. He’s cute, and sometimes he looks like an adorable little kid. But whenever that thought crosses his mind, Michael glares back at him. It’s hard to hold back the snickers.

Okay, so maybe he doesn’t really hate Michael all  _that_  much. But he still holds a bit of a grudge against him. He’s been haunting and scaring Gavin his entire life, and it’s not fair that now he’s suddenly an attractive and unscary guy.

So, Gavin begins to talk. Just aimlessly at first. Never really expecting Michael to care or listen. If he’s going to be stuck in these dreams, he might as well get some fun out of it. And watching Michael scoff, roll his eyes, or grin in amusement at his antics and annoying habits is pretty top notch entertainment.

Then Michael begins to talk back. Answering small questions about things Gavin talks about in passing.

This continues for a long time, and soon the conversations aren’t so one sided anymore.

The dreams start to get even weirder. Michael talks more. Sometimes about nothing in particular, or maybe he’ll make fun of Gavin every once in a while.

He hates to admit it, but he doesn’t really hate the dreams anymore. They come every night, and he’s still losing  _a lot_ of sleep, but he likes talking to Michael.

He’s funny, and nice, and he’s always cursing.

Michael isn’t just a creepy dark figure that haunts his dreams anymore.

He’s not exactly sure when they went from just a few exchanged words and intense staring to full blown conversations. It’s like the two just got along really well, and Gavin wishes that Michael was always like this. It would have been nice to have a friend to talk to when he was younger instead of a monster-looking-thing haunting his thoughts.

Gavin’s been having the dream every single night for the past month now. The most amount of sleep he gets a night is around five hours or so, but he can’t complain. He likes the dreams now.


	2. Chapter 2

When he comes into work a few days later, Ray gets suspicious.

"You still not getting any sleep, Gav?" he asks.

Gavin’s hardly even noticed that his sleeping pattern is almost completely obsolete. Whenever he wakes up, he still can’t doze off again. But now he doesn’t mind it so much. Now, he spends that time thinking about Michael, going over their conversations, and thinking about how nice the sound of his laugh is.

"Yeah, I’ll be fine though."

"Still having nightmares every night?"

He thinks about it for a while. “No… I’m having good dreams now.”

Ray smirks and raises an eyebrow, “ _Good_ dreams? About who?”

It’s like he always has some sort of sixth sense about this kind of stuff. Ray can sniff out an embarrassing crush from miles away.

Not that Gavin has a crush on  _Michael_! No! Of course not! Don’t be foolish. That’s ridiculous. Isn’t it? Michael is just his friend that lives inside his head, and scared him when he was younger. Okay…  _maybe_  that sounds a little weird.

Gavin’s face turns red as soon as he understands what Ray means, “Oh shut up.” he scoffs, and looks away, “Not like that. The dreams just aren’t scary anymore.”

The knowing smile doesn’t leave Ray’s face, but he turns back to his computer anyways, “Whatever you say, man.”

*

Now instead of being nervous, he’s giddy with excitement when he crawls into his bed. It’s been a long time since he’s been scared of the dreams.

Due to his lack of sleep for the past few days, he falls asleep as soon as he closes his eyes.

_Every dream is the same now. Michael’s physical appearance doesn’t change in any way, and they always just talk and joke around. It’s the first time he’s been happy with how constant the dreams are._

_"Hey, Gavin." Michael says._

_"Hi, Michael!" he grins._

_He’ll never get over how real he looks. Michael doesn’t look like an apparition or ghost anymore. He looks just as real as anybody Gavin meets when awake and in the real world._

_"Guess what! Dan’s going to be going back to England soon, and we’re going to be able to shoot some more videos for our Slowmoguys channel!"_

_Michael already knows who all of Gavin’s friends and family are. He’s spent a lot of his time in the dreams explaining everybody to Michael._

_He smirks, “And I assume you’re excited about that?”_

_"Yeah, of course! Dan is one of my best friends." Gavin grins, "Just like you, Michael."_

_He arches an eyebrow, “What do you mean?”_

_"You’re one of my best friends too!" Gavin continues, and wants to laugh at how confused Michael looks._

_"We aren’t friends, Gavin."_

_He just laughs at that, “Of course we are.”_

_Michael scoffs and rolls his eyes, but Gavin can see the small smile he’s trying to hide. He decides not to pester him too much about it, and just leave it be._

_The rest of the dream is filled with them both talking about a new game that’s going to be released soon, and how it compares to the other new games coming out._

_It never seems weird talking to him. Their conversations are never forced or awkward. It’s like he’s talking to a real person in real life._

_The dream always ends the same way though, with Michael softly saying the words “Wake up, Gavin.” and then his body slowly becoming more and more transparent until he’s gone completely._

And then Gavin will wake up in his own bed. No more Michael, no more dream world, and no more sleep for the rest of the night.

Sometimes it’s annoying, but only because he knows he can’t talk to Michael anymore until tomorrow night.

Gavin’s enjoying the angry dream boy more and more. He’s easy to talk to and annoy. He likes just being able to say whatever is on his mind, and even though Michael makes fun of him for it sometimes, it doesn’t hurt his feelings or make him draw back. It makes it better, helps him take his mind off of anything that’s troubling him.

He remembers back in primary school when you’d have to write up a little paragraph on what a friend is, and he thinks that Michael fits the criteria perfectly.

But a problem keeps creeping up into the back of his brain. Maybe he likes Michael as a little bit  _more_ than a friend.

*

Gavin walks into his room, closes the door behind him, and collapses face first onto his unmade bed.

He’s had a pretty crappy day. The root of his problems are because of how tired he always is. The guys are constantly making fun of him for yawning so much and almost falling asleep during Let’s Plays. He tries to make sure it doesn’t happen so much that it will cause concern, but it’s difficult. He just wants to pass out. He’d be willing to sleep on the hard floor of the office if he could.

He can’t even count how many cans of Red Bull he’s drank in a worthless attempt to keep himself awake. Overall, he just feels like complete shite now.

But he doesn’t mind being tired if he’s able to see Michael every night. He smiles softly to himself as he thinks about his angry friend, not even realizing that he’s drifting off into sleep.

“ _Why the fuck are you scowling like an idiot?” he hears a familiar voice question._

_Gavin eyes open and he sees that he’s in one of his dreams again. Weird, he hardly even noticed that he’d fallen asleep._

“ _Hi, Michael!” he greets, “And I don’t know, I’ve just been having a bad day.”_

_He tries to keep nonchalant, and even throws in a shrug for added affect, but Michael isn’t buying it._

“ _What happened?” he asks. Michael does a good show of trying to appear like he doesn’t care either._

_Gavin lets out a sigh, but decides to tell him anyways, “It’s just been a long day, and I’ve been tired. These dreams keep me up, ya’know?”_

“ _Don’t be such a pussy.”_

“ _Oi! It’s not my fault! I’ve hardly been getting any sleep because of you popping up in my dreams every night!” Maybe he’s been a little grumpy too._

_Beside Michael, the best thing about the dreams is that he doesn’t feel tired in them. It’s like he’s just had a full nights sleep, and is as healthy as a horse. His constant energy is always annoying Michael, but it always causes him to smile too._

_Michael smirks at that, “What were some good things that happened today then?”_

“ _I dunno’” he mumbles and thinks back on his day, “I ate a fish oil pill for a laugh while Arryn, Miles, and Kerry filmed it.”_

_Just the memory is enough to make him grin. It was horrible, and he can still taste it in his mouth. But it was really funny, and it was going to make a hilarious RT Life video._

“ _You_ ate  _a fish oil pill?” he questions slowly._

“ _Yeah.”_

“ _Are you a fucking idiot? Besides, I thought you didn’t like taking pills.”_

“ _Yeah, that’s why I chewed it. For a laugh.” he grins that usual doopy tooth showing smile._

“ _How many red bulls did you wash it down with?” Michael asks knowingly._

_Gavin laughs, “You don’t even wanna know.”_

_Without even realizing it Michael has put him into a better mood._

“ _You really are a moron, you know that right?”_

“ _Don’t be mean, Michael.”_

“ _Mi-cool!” he mocks the butchering of his name, “Talk like a normal person for once in your life.”_

“ _I don’t make fun of your silly American accent.” Gavin points out, still grinning wildly. He loves bantering with Michael like this over stupid little things._

“ _Because you_ live  _in America. You obviously don’t hate the accents if you live there.”_

“ _I personally think you love my British accent!”_

_Michael lets out a scoff, but there’s still a smile spread across his face, “You wish.”_

_He decides to take a risk. “I bet you think it’s attractive.”_

_That causes him to laugh and turn his head away to compose himself. “Hardly. You sound like all of the members of One Direction piled into one person.”_

“ _I don’t think they’re all British.” he ponders it for a moment, but shrugs it off. He doesn’t know much about teenage pop culture, and he’s not going to go pick up the latest copy of_ Tween Dreams  _magazine just to prove himself right._

 _Michael rolls his eyes. “Did you do anything today that_ didn’t _make you look like an utter moron?”_

_Gavin makes a show of pretending to think hard about it, then gives an exaggerated “Nah.”_

_Michael chuckles, “I’ve loved to stay and mock your horrible decisions more, but I’ve actually gotta get going.”_

_Gavin makes a noise of whiny discontent, “That’s bullocks! We’ve only just started talking. You can’t just leave three minutes into a dream.”_

“ _I can and I will.”_

“ _You suck. Where do you even go after this? Are you haunting other people’s dreams? Are you cheating on me, Michael?” Gavin smirks._

_They’ve been friends long enough that he’s able to make jokes like this. He and Ray are always playing around and saying lame gay things to each other just to get a rise out of their audience. But it’s different with Michael, because there’s no camera’s or overexcited fan girls. It’s just them._

_Michael grins at the joke, and looks almost reluctant for a moment before finally saying, “Wake up, Gavin.”_

He jolts awake in his bed, and then laughs out loud at his conversation with Michael. They’re always so pleasant and funny. He’s a lot like the guys at the office, always making fun of him and joking around.

In a perfect world, Michael would be working at Achievement Hunter along side him. Making dumb jokes, calling him an asshole, and saying lovey dovey things to one another to make the fan girls piss themselves.

But maybe he’s happy that it’s not like that.

He’s not sure if liking Michael can be considered a joke anymore.

*

_Gavin chuckles to himself softly. He and Michael had been talking for (what seemed like) hours now. It’s hard to tell how much time passes in dreams, but it seems to move faster with Michael anyways._

_"What’s got you so cheery?" Michael questions him, an eyebrow raised._

_"Nothing." he answers honestly, "I’m just happy, I guess."_

_"Why?"_

_"I’m not sure."_

_"Is it because of these dreams?"_

_He doesn’t know how to respond to that. Is that the reason? He doesn’t really know. So he settles on a light shrug._

_"I thought you hated these dreams."_

_He’s thought about it a lot. Back when he was a child, these dreams were terrifying because Michael couldn’t even be considered a person. He was just a black shadow-y monster. But now it’s different. Michael isn’t scary. Gavin doesn’t need to double check under his bed and closets for fear that his dreams are becoming a reality anymore._

_"No. I like you now." he murmurs, a soft smile on his face._

_Every single dream contains an entire conversation between the two. They talk about pointless things like video games, television shows, and movies. Things that Gavin wouldn’t expect Michael to know about._

_He’s like a mystery. Like that one character from broody teenage movies that none of the others can figure out._

_"You don’t like me," he scowls, "I’m not real."_

_Gavin feels his eyebrows furrow, “What do you mean, of course you are.”_

_"I’m only in your dreams, Gavin. When you wake up I’m gone."_

_"But you still exist!" he argues, "You’re right here in front of me!"_

_This is the first time Michael’s discussed such serious and foolish matters. He doesn’t want to hear if his friend is real or isn’t real. Because they_ are _friends, whether Michael wants to admit it or not._

_Why now? He’s never been so serious before._

_Gavin’s not going to listen to him talk about such grim topics._

_He’s long forgiven Michael for scaring him when he was younger. He doesn’t care anymore, and he knows Michael didn’t mean to do it._

_"I’m not real." he repeats._

_"Yes you are!" Gavin yells, refusing to back down._

_It’s quiet for a few moments, and Michael just stares at him. Almost as though he’s glaring, but Gavin knows that he’s just annoyed at the stubbornness._

_"I have to go." he states._

_Then he feels guilty. He doesn’t want to upset Michael, and whenever he’s done it before it was just as a playful joke. Maybe this conversation crossed the line._

_"Don’t leave mad, Michael." Gavin says quietly, "I’m sorry I yelled."_

_He feels like a kicked puppy, always willing to forgive his owner._

_"I’m not mad, idiot." he mutters, and Gavin knows that he’s forgiven. He grins hugely, but it drops off of his face at Michael’s next words, "This is the last time I’ll see you."_

_That makes his eyes widen in disbelief._

_"What!?" he yells, his voice coming out hoarse and croaky. He thought he’d perfected speaking in this place, but apparently he’s still a little rusty._

_"I’m sorry." Michael murmurs, as though that will make up for it._

_"But I don’t want you to go!" Gavin calls out desperately._

_If he could cry in a dream he’d probably be doing it right now. He hates that it’s so easy to get upset when you’re just standing within the walls of your own mind. It’s like your emotions are exaggerated and more persistent._

_Michael comes closer to him, and it makes his eyes widen. He’s never moved before, and the fact that they’re almost touching makes him blush. “Isn’t this what you wanted? …For the dreams to stop?” Michael asks quietly._

_"N-No. Not anymore." he can’t bring himself to yell about it anymore, not when Michael’s hand comes up to cup his cheek so tenderly._

_He’s never been held like this in the dreams. Michael’s never touched him or even came within arms reach of him. The feeling of his fingers holding Gavin’s face is so soft and comforting. It makes him want to forget all about this conversation and bask in the feeling of Michael’s hands._

_"It’s going to be okay." he smiles, but Gavin knows that he’s lying._

_Then Michael comes closer, their faces are practically touching. Gavin wants nothing more than to fill in that empty space between them, and crash his lips to Michael’s._

_He’s so certain that Michael’s going to kiss him, his eye lids flutter closed, and he forgets all about the previous conversation._

_The brush of lips against his is so light that Gavin can hardly feel it. It trails a beautiful tingling sensation across his mouth, and leaves him wanting more contact._

_He can feel Michael’s breath against his cheek, and it makes him want to melt on the spot._

_"Wake up, Gavin." he whispers into his ear just as softly as the kiss._

Gavin wakes up with a loud gasp. His throat is sore and his cheeks are drenched with his own tears. He looks around his room frantically but Geoff and Griffon are sitting on his bed, holding him in place.

Waking up to hearing his own screams is so unfamiliar to him now. Ever since the dreams became something he looked forward to, he’s always woken up with a smile on his face.

"Gavin!" Geoff states in a strict voice.

He must have been screaming really loud if they were able to hear him. If he wasn’t so out of it he’d feel guilty.

But he can’t stop gasping, trying to catch his own breath. He needs to find Michael. He needs to fall back asleep and see him again.

He doesn’t even realize that he’s frantically moving his body around in a futile effort to get away from Geoff.

Panic runs through him, and it’s like he’s not even in his own body anymore. He just wants to get up and get away from it all. To go running around town searching for Michael as though it’s even possible to find him in the real world.

"Shh…" he hears Griffon murmur, "Just calm down, Gavin. It was just another dream."

He finally finds his voice, “No it wasn’t!” he yells, “It wasn’t a dream!”

"Yes it was. It was just a bad dream, and everything’s okay now." Geoff states, trying to calm him down by laying out the facts.

But they’ve got it wrong.

He didn’t just wake up from a particularly bad dream. It was a good dream, the _best_ dream. He didn’t want it to end. He didn’t want his time with  _Michael_ to end. He knows that he can’t explain it to them. They’d think he was crazy.

So instead he just sits there, letting himself cry it out while listening to their comforting words. He’s lucky to have such amazing friends that are basically like his adoptive parents. It’s nice to know that they’ll take care of him if he’s hurting like this.

He feels like such a kid, but he doesn’t even care anymore.

Geoff and Griffon both sit on the bed and hold him, rubbing his back and telling him that everything’s going to be okay. But he doesn’t believe it. Because that’s what Michael said too.

*

He doesn’t go to work for a few days.

Geoff sees how beaten up the kid is after that dream, and lets him stay home. They’ve already got a back load of Let’s Plays filmed anyways, so it’s not going to do much damage.

Besides, they’re all busy trying to help the new guy get settled in that Gavin wouldn’t have much need to be at the office anyways.

Geoff still thinks that he was just having a nightmare.

As Gavin lies in his bed, he thinks about that.  _Was_  he having a nightmare? Can’t a nightmare be classified as a dream where something bad happens? Michael saying goodbye forever was definitely not a good thing.

But he doesn’t want Michael to be connected to the word nightmare anymore.

Every night he squeezes his eyes shut and drags his blankets up to his chin. His body is tensed up so much that he’s almost in pain.

"Go to sleep. Go to sleep. Go to sleep." he repeats quietly to himself.

He just wants to see Michael again. He needs proof that his friend isn’t gone forever.

But every morning he wakes up with the sun shining bright through his blinds and the soft sound of birds chirping in the distance.

"Bullocks!" he’ll yell, and punch his bed with clenched fists.

It’s just so damn frustrating. When he was younger he would have given anything for the dreams to stop completely. The child within him is cheering, happy to be rid of the monster. But Michael’s not a monster! He’s Michael!

Nice, funny, angry Michael that always gets mad at Gavin’s dumb jokes and tries to hide his smirks. The way that he’d roll his eyes and saying things like “ _you fucking moron_ " and "s _hut the hell up, you piece of shit_ " with annoyance, but Gavin could always make out the underlying affectionate tone to it.

He really needs to stop thinking about Michael. It’s going to drive him insane.

It’s not long until he begins to blame himself. Maybe he just became to attached to Michael and the dreams. He drove him away and now he’s never going to come back. It’s just so unfair that life would dangle something so amazing in front of his face for a few weeks, and then snatch it away without a second thought.

*

He sits at the breakfast table with his pseudo family, and tries to act as though everything is okay.

Geoff made pancakes and bacon, which would taste delicious if it were any other day. Ever since that last dream, Gavin’s lost all appetite for food. He has to force himself to eat, and even when he does it’s almost flavourless to his taste buds.

It’s like he’s actually lost a friend in real life. He’s going through all the motions of a death. Michael might not have even been real! He was just some weird thing in his brain! That doesn’t make it any better though.

"You feeling okay, Gav?" he hears Griffon ask from across the table.

He looks up from his plate and sees her with a bottle of formula in one hand and the baby in the other. It’s breakfast time for everybody apparently.

"Yeah, I’m good." he nods.

"Perfect, because we really need you back at work." Geoff mutters. He’s been generous to let Gavin off for so long.

"That’s fine." he says, "I can go in today."

Griffon makes a noise of disapproval, which causes the two to look over at her. “I don’t think he’s ready to go back. Look at him, he’s an absolute mess.”

"Gee, thanks Griff." Gavin mutters as he shovels another piece of bacon into his mouth. He knows that covering up the truth with sarcasm isn’t going to help much, but he’s grasping at straws. He doesn’t want to worry them.

"What are you talking about? He looks fine." Geoff states, and then turns away from his wife to look at Gavin, "You’re getting more sleep, aren’t you?"

The only bright side to this entire thing is that he’s finally getting some rest. He’s still not sure how he’s able to fall asleep when he’s been so stressed out about Michael’s seemingly permanent disappearance. But he blames it on the lack of sleep he’s been dealing with earlier.

The dark circles under his eyes have begun to disappear, and he doesn’t feel so groggy anymore. But the loss of a friend is still depressing.

He nods, not trusting his voice right now. Just because he’s willing to lie through his teeth to keep them content, doesn’t mean he’s very good at it.

"No more dreams?" Geoff continues.

That almost makes him wince.

"No. No more dreams." he repeats, shaking his head back and forth.

He feels like a young boy being questioned by his parents.

"See, he’ll be fine." Geoff smiles. He needs to reassure his wife, because he knows that letting Gavin wallow around all day isn’t going to accomplish anything.

It’s only been a few days, but he needs to get back to his daily life. The office is so quiet without him sometimes. He misses having his British idiot jumping around and causing a fuss.

"Fine." Griffon mutters, "But if he starts to get upset-"  
  


"I’ll bring him straight home, I promise." Geoff grins.

Gavin smirks and rolls his eyes. What do they think is going to happen? He’ll start screaming and crying in the middle of the office? He’s never done that before and he doesn’t plan to now. It’s not like he’d fall asleep during work and then wake up from a bad dream there.

Although he’d be willing to have a dream in the office if it meant seeing Michael again. He misses that momentary dizziness from realizing that you’re in a dream, and then seeing Michael standing in front of him. Always with an insult that has a hint of affection attached to it.

He hasn’t realized that Geoff has been talking to him until he sees snapping fingers in his vision.

"W-What?" Gavin snaps out of it and looks to his boss.

"I was talking to you and you were completely zoned out, you moron."

"Oh, sorry." he shakes his head a little to get himself focused, "What were you saying?"

Geoff gives him an odd looks, but shrugs it off after a few seconds. “I was talking about the new guy we’ve got working at Achievement Hunter now.”

Gavin nods along with the words, “Yeah, I remember talking to Ray about him. Is he any good?”

"You mean at games? Well, he’s no Ray."

He smirks at that, “Is anybody?”

"He has this series called  _Rage Quit_  where he’s bad at games and screams at them out of anger. It’s pretty fucking funny. We’ve had him do a Let’s Play with us the other day, and it was hilarious. The kid curses like a sailor.”

Gavin nods along to the description while he continues to eat, “He sounds pretty cool. When did he even start?”

"I think it was the first day you stayed home."

Gavin grimaces, “That’s some pretty rotten luck then. I didn’t even get to break in the new guy with you.”

Geoff chuckles, “Don’t piss him off too much, he’s pretty tough. He probably wouldn’t hesitate to beat the shit out of you.”

This will be really fun then! Gavin thrives off of people getting annoyed at him. If this guy really is that bad at controlling his temper, then being a pest around him is going to be hilarious.

He needs something to take his mind off of Michael and the lack of dreams. He’s sick of feeling like a whiny teenage girl that’s just went through her first break up. It’s time to grow a back bone and get over it.

They were just dreams after all. Michael didn’t even exist. It hurts, but it’s probably the truth. He’s needed to face the facts sooner or later.

"Perfect." he nods, grinning wildly at Geoff.

*

As soon as he and Geoff enter the building, he hears muffled yelling coming from behind the door of the AH office.

It’s nice to be back at Rooster Teeth. Even though it’s only been about four or five days, he thinks of this place as one of his homes. It’s weird being away from it for so long. He doesn’t know how he survives when he goes back to England for visits.

But hearing the usually quiet lobby being soiled with the sounds of screeching anger is so odd. It’s like they’ve got a medieval torture victim tied up in there.

The slightly muffled voice sounds faintly familiar, but he just can’t place it. It’s like it’s right on the tip of his tongue.

"What the hell is that?" he questions out loud, looking around the lobby.

"That’s the new guy I was telling you about. He’s recording right now."

Ah, so maybe it’s not so familiar. Maybe he’s watched one of the bloke’s videos before, but it doesn’t seem very likely. Geoff explained on the way to the office that the guy had his own channel that he was uploading these kinds of videos on before.

"Come on." Geoff says, and continues walking. They don’t get very far from the Achievement Hunter office when they actually run into Jack.

"Hey guys!" he says to them cheerfully, a cup of coffee in his hands.

"Hey, Jack. How long’s he been in there?" he gestures to the closed door of the Achievement Hunter office.

"Almost an hour. But, believe it or not, he’s actually been quieting down. Which is good because we’re scheduled to film a Let’s Play in a few minutes." he turns his attention to Gavin, "Hey, buddy. Geoff says you were sick for the past few days. You feeling any better?"

Even Jack is babying him. Now he knows he’s let this go on for long enough.

He forces a grin though, and doesn’t snap at Jack for treating him like something breakable, “Yup! Back to my usual annoying self, Jack!”

"Not sure if I’m glad to hear that or not." he chuckles.

The yelling has stopped and they all look towards the door. Has the new guy finished his recording? They can only assume so, but they don’t move to the door yet.

"Have you met him yet, Gavin?" Jack asks.

"Nope, gotta make a good impression on him today." he jokes. He doesn’t really care all that much if this new guy likes him or not. They’re going to be working together either way.

He’s not really in the mood to be overly nice and welcoming to a new employee. Yeah, sure, he’ll introduce himself and all that bullocks, but other than that he just wants to do his work and go home.

"He and Ray are already good friends." Geoff says, "Maybe they’ll let you join in on their gay little club."

"How old is he?" Gavin questions.

"I think twenty four? Twenty five?" Jack shrugs, "Something around there."

"Perfect! A new edition to Team Lads!" he smirks, trying to keep up his happy-go-lucky facade.

The teams have been uneven ever since the arrival of Ryan. They had Ray on their team, which was an advantage. But they also had Gavin, which was kind of a disadvantage. At least them losing made for funny videos.

The door to the Achievement Hunter office opens, and a young man steps out, a small grin on his face.

"You can come in now, I’m done recording."

The forced smile completely drops off of Gavin’s face at the sight of the new guy.

It’s _him_.

It’s  _Michael_.

He has curly brown hair with a small hint of red in it, and brown eyes that are covered with glasses. A few video game related tattoo’s are on his arms, and he’s wearing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. The same outfit that he’s been wearing in all of Gavin’s dreams.

He looks the exact same as he has in the dreams. Right down to the placement of every freckle that’s scattered across his cheeks and nose.

Gavin’s not sure how to react. His entire thought process has been completely halted to a stop due to the shock of this situation.

He’s not sure whether he wants to cry and jump around with happiness, scream at the top of his lungs and run out of here, or just pass out on the floor.

He knows Geoff is speaking to the new guy, and he must have made some kind of joke because a beautiful grin spreads across the man’s face and he laughs.

Gavin’s love of slow motion might be affecting his brain a little because it seems like the past twenty seconds of slowed down into twenty minutes. He hardly even notices it though, because his entire head is just filled with confusion, shock, and bewilderment at the man standing in the doorway before him.

"M…" he starts it off as a whisper, because he’s still not sure if he’s dreaming or not, "Michael!" he finally blurts out.

The three men turn to look at him, but they don’t notice his facial expression.

The guy smirks and comes closer to Gavin so that he’s standing in front of him, then holds out his hand. “Yeah, and you’re Gavin, right?” he asks.

Gavin snaps out of his daze for a few seconds and just stares at Michael’s face, “…Yeah.” he says slowly.

"I’ve heard a lot about you the past few days, and about how annoyingly British you are."

Gavin doesn’t respond to that, still shocked into silence, and shakes Michael’s still outstretched hand.

This is Michael.

The guy that he’s been talking to for the past two weeks.

The guy who haunted his dreams his entire life.

The guy that Gavin thought he would never see again.

"It’s… It’s you!" He still can’t really control his thoughts because they’re still bouncing around his brain in a delirious symphony.

"Uh, yeah, man." Michael arches an eyebrow, but he’s still smiling, "I’m me."

"Don’t mind him, he’s been pretty sick for the past few days." Jack tries to help, not really understanding what’s wrong with Gavin either.

"He’s also an idiot." Geoff adds.

Gavin releases his grip of Michael’s hand, and let’s it fall to his side. As Geoff and Jack laugh at the joke, he just continues to stare at him with wide and confused eyes. Michael smirks at him, and there’s this knowing twinkle in his eyes, that causes Gavin’s eyebrows to scrunch together in annoyance.

He’s annoyed at this entire situation!

What the bloody hell is even going on!? The only time he’s ever seen or talked to Michael was in one of those dreams, and now he’s here. Standing in front of him. Offering nothing more than a cheeky smile and a handshake.

"Come on then, let’s go film a Let’s Play." Geoff says.

He doesn’t feel in control of his body as he walks through the doorway and into the office with the others. It’s like his legs are jelly and he’s about to collapse in any second.

He sits down in his chair and rubs his face with his hands for a moment. It’s difficult to process such an odd occurrence in such a short amount of time. It’s eating him alive, and he can’t even talk about it because they’ll think he’s crazy.

This Michael  _can’t_ be the same Michael from his dreams. It just doesn’t make any sense.

Maybe it’s just a coincidence that this guy looks and talks  _exactly_  like the Michael in his dreams. He has the same name, is wearing the same clothes, and even has the same smile.

Okay… A really  _big_  coincidence.

"Are you sure you’re okay, Gav?" he hears Geoff question.

He turns around in his chair to see his friend giving him a look of concern. If he says no, then Geoff would probably let him go home. Then he could just lie in his bed and try to process all of this insane information.

But he knows that’s not going to help anything.

"Yeah, I’m fine." he nods. Geoff gives him a suspicious look, but eventually turns back to his own screen.

Gavin lets out a sigh, shakes his head a little, and blinks harshly. As though it will get rid of the jumbled mess his brain has become.

He looks over at Michael, who’s sitting in the desk between his and Ray’s. Ray and Ryan aren’t in the office today, and he doesn’t have the energy to ask where they are. So he just assumes that they’re doing a Let’s Play without them.

Michael is just setting up his microphone and turning on his computer. Things that Gavin should be doing.

After all, he’s set up his own equipment for Let’s Play’s a million times now. But it takes him a little longer than usual because every few seconds he looks at Michael out of the corner of his eye.

After successfully getting everything ready, he hears Jack mutter “Finally!” and both he and Geoff discuss what game they’re going to be playing.

But he doesn’t listen, he’s still stealing glances at Michael’s face. But that familiar voice soon puts his momentary habit to a quick halt.

"Dude, would you quit staring at me?"

"Sorry." he looks away quickly, and hears the beautiful melody of Michael’s soft chuckle fill the air.

As soon as it ends he can’t help but stare back at him again. Just a little peek at that dimpled face, to assure himself that he is indeed  _that guy_.

And he is. Right down to the clothes he’s wearing, his curly hair with the beanie pulled over it, and the freckled face that had glasses covering his eyes.

Those eyes are now boring into his own, but this time Michael says nothing, and just simply stares back. Patiently waiting, with a small grin spread across his features, for Gavin to say something.

"You’re him, aren’t you?" he finally speaks.

"Who? The guy from your dreams?" Michael mockingly scrunches up his nose in a way that can only be described as adorable, and then gives him a knowing smirk. "I might be."


End file.
